School budget adjustments all add up to a minus

Muskego - Residents of the Muskego-Norway School District will hear some good news on the property tax front at the budget hearing Tuesday.

The proposed levy for school purposes will actually decrease slightly. School officials are anticipating a 0.77 percent dip in the levy to pay for the 2011-12 school year that is already under way. Voters will be asked to affirm that levy at Tuesday's budget hearing and district annual meeting.

Key up-and-down changes

It was tough to get to that point, though.

Elementary school guidance counselors were eliminated and the number of middle school counselors reduced.

To make up for that, more school psychologists have come on board. However, teachers now are teaching units that the guidance counselors taught before.

Similarly, every school and the administration offices are dealing with a 2.5 percent across-the-board funding cut.

But things could also have been a whole lot worse.

The schools saved money because new state legislation gave more power to schools and municipalities in terms of employee pay and benefits - two areas that usually take up 80 percent of budgets.

The legislation caps nearly all public employee raises to the rate of inflation based on the U.S. Consumer Price Index. That is set at 1.5 percent for next year and Muskego-Norway is now negotiating with its teachers about raises, said Scot Ecker, director of business services.

Administrators already receive the 1.5 percent raise.

Also, because the legislation also gives schools and communities the right to unilaterally change health care plans, the School Board is considering a new plan that could save $1 million. The proposed plan incorporating higher out-of-pocket costs for staff is slated to be voted on Tuesday.

The schools have already switched health insurance carriers, which alone saved another $205,000, Ecker said.

Regardless of whether the board adopts the proposed health plan, staff will pay 12.6 percent of health insurance premiums.

Other notable changes

Also to save money, the schools switched bus companies, saving $250,000 and paid off the $2.6 million remaining on what it owes the Wisconsin Retirement System. That saved the $266,000 payment next year.

To pay off the retirement system debt, the schools used $1.2 million of fund balance and used $1.4 million of a federal jobs grant for personnel, which freed up money that could be used to pay off the debt.

Even though the fund balance will be a little lower, the schools will not have to borrow annually to fund operations until tax money comes in as a lot of school districts do, Ecker said.

Paying off the retirement system pushed the total proposed general fund spending past this year's spending. But without that payment, the general fund would have fallen 4 percent, Ecker said. The general fund is regarded as most of the operating budget.

NEXT STEP

WHAT: Muskego-Norway School District annual meeting on the proposed 2011-12 budget

WHEN: 7 p.m. Oct. 25

WHERE: the Performing Arts Center at Muskego High School, S8750 Racine Ave.

AT A GLANCE

The proposed Muskego-Norway School District budget figures:

Total spending: $62,709,708 up 0.13 percent from last year's $62,626,368

General fund: $54,048,901, up $629,967 or nearly 1.2 percent from last year's $53,418,934

Levy: $33,279,297, down 0.77 percent from the previous levy of $33,538,053